


clouds

by daisiesforlacey



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex's Parents Are Homophobic (Julie and The Phantoms), Angst, Bisexual Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Good Parent Ray Molina, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27199820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisiesforlacey/pseuds/daisiesforlacey
Summary: After her mother’s death, Julie Molina moved away from LA  to Ithaca, New York. She’s left behind her two loves in life: her best friend, Luke Patterson, and her music. There, she finds new friends and enemies, new experiences and joys, she might even find herself. Every night, Luke calls Julie to talk about the clouds.OR Julie tries to stay positive, Luke is hiding something, and Flynn is maybe the best friend in the whole entire world.An AU where the boys are alive in 2020
Relationships: Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 102





	1. cumulus

Julie had been gazing at the sky for hours now. The warmth of midday had long drawn away and it was now starting to get dark. If she turned in the right direction, she could just see the milky translucent outline of the moon peaking through. She had noted all of the shapes she had seen in the clouds in her notebook: a butterfly, a chair, a house, an ice cream cone, and many more. She had sworn she had seen a rainbow somewhere in the distance, but it hadn’t rained in some time. 

The clock at the center of town chimed and Julie jumped with a start, she hadn’t realized it was 6 o’clock already. She hadn't meant to spend the whole day out, she just got wrapped up in her head. She grabbed her phone, bag, and notebook before unlocking the combination lock on her bike and taking it off the rack. 

Riding back to her house, she kept noting clouds, scissors, a guitar, and a light bulb, before seeing an airplane soar overhead. She passed many shops along the way, waving to her classmates as they studied outside of a cafe. Already, she knew the way back to her house: left, right, left, left, stop sign, past Carries gated house, and down two hills. Julie pulled into the driveway, tossed her bike on the ground, unlocked the red front door, and ran up the stairs. Her bedroom door whipped open and she dropped all over her stuff on her desk unceremoniously before sitting down at her computer.

It was 6:23. 

She sighed and threw her head back, realizing she had missed the premiere of her favorite show, hopefully it would be uploaded to YouTube soon. She got up and watered the plants on her windowsill before she heard a loud bang from below.

Julie opened her curtains and looked down to see her neighbor and friend fixing their fence. The divider had long been in disrepair, but no one really cared enough to fix it. Yanking open the window she yelled down, “Flynn! Why are you, of all people, doing housework?” She had known Flynn long enough to know that the other girl wouldn’t do anything requiring physical work if her life depended on it.

Flynn looked up and waved, her cornrows whipping around her face, “Hey! You’re back!” She dropped the hammer, narrowly avoiding her sneaker clad food, seeming to forget about her work, “I’ll be right up.” 

After moving a few months ago, Julie had become quick friends with Flynn when she realized that their bedroom windows faced each other. At first, it had been a little weird; Julie could see almost all of Flynn’s blue room if her curtains were open, and she was sure the same went for her. But after they got over the initial awkwardness, the two were like super glue. They would spend all day chatting about nothing and everything. Flynn had turned out to be one of Julie’s saving graces; she was caring and was always supportive of whatever she wanted to pursue. Julie pulled her silver desk chair to her window and waited until Flynn had done the same.

“You were out all day and you didn’t bring me back a slice of cake from Tia’s Bakery? I missed my brother's baseball game for that!” Flynn laughed, propping her feet on the windowsill. 

Julie rolled her eyes, “That wasn’t the first thing on my mind as I rushed out the door this morning. Anyways, the frosting would have melted, it’s not as if I carry around a refrigerator.” 

Her phone rang loudly, her ringtone “Grenade” by Bruno Mars filling the space. She silenced it, already knowing that she didn’t want to talk to the caller at the moment. Her face dropped; every day she dreaded the conversation, not because of the caller, but because of the situation.

She shook her head, wishing the thoughts away before racing to get her twine tied notebook and pencil that she brought with her to the park. She tossed them over the gap between the houses to Flynn, who opened it and started reading today’s findings aloud.

“Football, dog, lion,” Her brows furrowed, “Superman? Are you sure? Or did you just really wish it was?” A smirk pulled at her lips. 

“Maybe it could have been a bird or a plane, but you never know.” Julie shrugged. 

Suddenly, Flynn’s eyebrows shot to the sky. She jumped up and rushed to grab a sheet of paper from her book bag, “Oh! Oh! Look! Look at this!” She waved it around wildly and jumped around, almost too fast for Julie to see, but she did make out the big red 97 on it.

Julie shot up from her chair, almost tripping, “Your math test! Oh my god! You aced it! I knew you would!”

“Only because you,” Flynn pointed at her, “Helped me with polynomials after I talked your ears off!” 

Julie rolled her eyes, but had an ear splitting grin “Yeah, yeah, you would have gotten it eventually, you just needed a little push.”

After calming down, the two then launched into conversations about their days until it was too dark to see each other. They would bounce off each other with flying force, her father had said it was impossible to keep up.

Flynn’s family had arrived home and she had to leave, promising to talk tomorrow morning as she gave Julie back her notebook. Julie picked up her phone, calling her silenced call back. He picked up after the first ring.

“I was wondering how long it’d be before you got back to me.” The other person said. 

Julie smiled sadly as she started tidying up her room, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Luke.” 

Ever since she moved, her and her best friend had promised to call each other everyday and report on the shapes of the clouds they saw. Some of her favorite memories were of her and Luke spending hours laying in the grass, just wasting time. Maybe it was an attempt to hold on to each other, even when she was half way around the country. Clouds were something that stayed the same, yet always changed. 

“What shapes did you see today?”

She heard a rustling of paper over the speaker, “I saw a couple ghosts, a pair of pants, a school building, and a car. I didn’t really get a chance to look too much today.” He replied. She could imagine him dragging his finger across the page; a habit he never broke after elementary school

Julie laughed, “A school building, not just any other building? Not a factory? Not an office?”

“No, no, no, it was specifically a school. It was dark and gloomy and somehow square. You would have said the same thing.”

“I somehow doubt that.” Julie moved to flop down on her bed, she sat for a second, thinking about what she would have seen in the so-called school cloud. She suddenly became more homesick than ever; she wished she could have been there, with Luke.

She wished she could be anywhere with Luke, she thought. Her face flushed as she pushed the thought away. They sat in a comfortable silence for some time.

Luke cleared his throat, “How’d Flynn’s test go?”

Julie grinned as she shot up, sitting straight up on her bed, “She killed it! Stabbed-it-in-the-heart killed it, set-fire-to-it killed it, absolutely bulldozed it!” She grabbed a pillow and hugged it. Julie appreciated that Luke listened to her about her new friends, but he rarely talked about his friends. 

“Of course she did, with a math wiz like you to help, how could she not!” He snorted, “Although should we start worrying about all of those violent metaphors?”

“I think we should be more worried that I have metaphors.” Julie’s smile turned into a wince. Sometimes she didn’t think before she spoke; probably a trait she picked up from Luke. 

Luke groaned, “What does that even mean? At least it’s nice to know that your bad comebacks haven’t changed.” He paused, hesitant, almost as if he knew what he was about to ask already had an answer. 

“Have you played any music yet?”

He was right, they both already knew the answer to the question.

“No.” 

Julie hugged the pillow tighter to her.

There was no explanation, none was needed.

There was a pause as Julie changed the subject and picked at the loose strings on her pillow. “I went to the park for most of the day, like we used to do. The weather was nice enough, kinda chilly, and I probably saw more shapes than I could count. You probably would have seen so much more. You were always more imaginative.” 

Luke chuckled, she knew he was rolling his eyes, “We both know that’s not true. We work best as a team, even if we are 2,789 miles apart.”

Julie had wanted to tell him that she wished she could go back home, even for a day, but she knew it would have only made things worse. She would end up crying again and he, ever wonderful, would comfort her, saying that they’d see each other soon. They both knew that was a lie. She didn’t know if she’d ever see Luke again. 

She heard the door open downstairs as her father came back from work. “I gotta go, you’ll call tomorrow?” She rushed out and hopped off of her bed, throwing her pillow down.

“Yeah, always.” He replied, she could hear his soft smile. Keeping with their routine, he said, “I’ll see you soon.” 

“I’ll see you soon.” She sighed.


	2. cirrus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie goes to school and Luke writes a song.

The morning had been much chillier than the previous day. On their way to school, Julie and Flynn had bundled up in their favorite sweaters and scarves, along with matching thermoses of tea. Julie had tried to stuff her hair into a wool hat, but after failing miserably, she settled on tying her hair back into a ponytail. Flynn had offered to help style her curls that morning, but she had declined.

The ground next to the sidewalk was blue with frost and they could almost see their breath if they squinted hard enough. 

In Ithaca, the winter was dryer, she had found that her lips chapped more often and she seemed to constantly have the sniffles. In L.A, when it got colder, it mostly rained, snow was far and few between and was never terribly enjoyable; the second it hit the ground it would become this sort of grey sludge. One thing they both shared was the unpredictability. Seeing the sun one day did not often guarantee a warm week, which left Julie to keep an array of coats of different thicknesses. 

There weren’t too many clouds to see, if she tried hard enough, she might be able to make out a flying saucer. She shook her head, spaceships were too easy and basic; anything could be a UFO. 

As they walked and the sun slowly rose, they talked about their upcoming day; if Carrie was going to be tolerable, if they would be getting new music projects, and who was buying lunch.

Luckily for Julie, she could already feel the air warm up, unfortunately, the conversion had shifted to Luke.

“How is your friend? Liam, or whatever?” Flynn asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

“Luke,” Julie snorted and looked down at her hands, “He’s doing well, he didn’t see too many shapes yesterday, so our conversation was relatively short.” Flynn knew about their nightly calls, but Julie had left out most of the reason they happened. Flynn didn’t need to know how much she missed her friend, she didn’t want the other girl to feel inadequate. 

“It’s really cool that you guys still keep in touch, if all of my friendships drifted apart that nicely, Carrie…” Flynn drifted off into thought at the mention of Carrie. Contemplating Julie, frowned, she didn’t particularly like to think that she and Luke had drifted, but she supposed they had literally done just that. 

“Well when you have a history like Luke and I have, it’s impossible not to talk to him.” Julie didn’t mention that he seemed to be a part of her that was now missing, or that Luke had this sort of magnetism that drew anyone and everyone to him, or that when they wrote songs together she had felt more alive and seen than anything. 

Those things didn’t need saying, those things had been left in L.A. 

But in here she had Flynn and a small town and a family. 

A broken family, she thought. 

* * *

As Nick finished his guitar solo, his lacrosse buddies whooped and hollered in the small music room. 

It was smaller than the one back home, but just as welcoming. Cinder block walls had been covered with sound absorbers and music posters ranging from “hang in there” cats to major and minor scales to student made flyers, advertising the school dance coming up. 

Their mascot, a yellow and black cougar, had been painted on the wall by an art club some time ago. It was slightly lopsided and its snarling mouth looked more mangled, but the sentiment was there. 

Julie had zoned out long before Nick had started, staring at the chipped paint on the wall. She knew the second she walked up to the piano to play, she would freeze. No amount of mental preparation could prepare her to set her fingers on the ivory keys and play something, anything. 

“Okay, we have one last performance,” Her teacher said, “Julie.” 

The girl looked up slowly. She stumbled toward the piano with hesitant steps. She sat down with a sigh and opened the sheet music. Her blood was rushing and her head was pounding. The room seemed to blur and spin, but was also eerily still and quiet. 

She could feel the eyes of her classmates boring into her skull. As they watched her, she could guess what they were thinking, here we go again, I wonder if she’ll actually play this time, just get on with it. 

Julie knew that Flynn was trying to encourage her, even from where she was sitting, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at the girl.

“Take your time,” Her teacher assured. 

Julie might take forever. 

She opened the case of the piano and grazed her fingertips on the keys. They were cold and unforbidding. The second she pressed one of the keys she knew that she would break.

Memories of her mother would come rushing back; every scraped knee, every hand holding in the parking lot, every crush whispered in secret, every night spent over the stove learning what spice goes in when, every uncontrollable fit of laughter. 

She would remember every Christmas and Easter that they would break out her Abuela’s Arroz Con Leche recipe, every concert they went to where they would scream lyrics until their throats were raw. 

Every failed test that her mother had stayed up late to help her study for, every flu shot where her mother still held her hand, no matter how old she got.

Every note written or melody sung would fill her mind. She didn’t know what would happen when it did, and she desperately didn’t want to find out. 

She stood up, “I’m sorry.”

Julie thought she heard Carrie say some snarky remark and that Flynn had retaliated, but she couldn’t have been sure before she was rushing out the door. 

After the school day, Flynn and her walked home as quickly as they could, sometimes sprinting. They needed to beat Julie’s father home after he picked up her brother, Carlos, up from his own school. She was praying that he hadn’t heard the news that she was out of the music program yet. 

She groaned as she saw his car already in the driveway

Flynn quickly hugged her, “It’s fine, he’ll understand.” She withdrew from the hug and held Julie at arms length with a sympathetic smile before they had to part. Flynn waved as she unlocked her front door and stepped inside. 

Julie took a sharp breath in before doing the same.

* * *

“So is ‘Clocks move faster / cause it’s all were after’ the first pre-chorus or the second pre-chorus?” Reggie ran his fingers through his hair, his nose scrunching, “Because wouldn’t it just make more sense to have the same pre-chorus on each verse?” 

The brunet’s bass was slung over his body as he rested his hands on the body of his guitar. He looked over to Luke, who was crouched over his lyrics. 

Luke shook his head, his hair already dripping with sweat, “It’s the second pre-chorus, the first is ‘Clocks move forward / but we don’t get older.’” He semi, sang, strumming along on his guitar. “Changing it up adds movement, we don’t want to bore the listeners. It keeps the theme of staying young at heart.” 

Reggie nodded and plucked at his bass, testing out different rhythms. Moving his hands up the neck and over the strings, he finally settled on some semblance of a tune, repeating it over and over again. 

Alex joined him, adding a hit on each of the beats of the song. This gave the song a drive and pounding rhythm, working with Luke's line of ‘Electric hammer to the heart.”

Luke stood up after scribbling something and added his guitar part over it, humming along with the melody, and soon they got well into the song, improvising along the way. There were still some wrong chords and off beats, but they had the bones of what they felt like would be a hit. 

Luke had gone from humming to singing, Reggie and Alex joining in. Luke felt his pulse quicken as he grinned. 

“‘We ain’t searchin’ for tomorrow’,” Alex sang, mimicking Luke's smile, to which Reggie echoed, “‘Cause got all we need today’.”

Luke bopped along, “‘Living on a feeling that’s been running through our veins.”

They looked back and forth to each other, knowing what was coming next.

Reggie was supposed to have a line to end the bridge, but it hadn’t been written yet. Luke had spent hours trying to come up with something, but it just didn’t click, every line he wrote either changed the meaning of the song or was too clumsy.

Luke sighed as they all stopped playing and he cast an apologetic gaze to the bassist, “I’ll get it. I promise.”

The boy in the flannel just shook his head, “No worries bro, we’ve done a lot in,” He checked the clock on the wall and his eyes widened comically. “Five hours…”

This mock practice session had started in Alex’s garage right after school after Luke had presented them with a song at lunch. 

“It’s totally us,” He had said, sliding to the table with a lunch tray and a scribbled mess of paper, beaming, “Totally mid 90’s. And look, you-,” He pointed to Alex who looked excited but skeptical, “Can start the bridge and you-,” Luke turned his attention to Reggie, “Can echo, ending with…” 

Luke trailed off, he didn’t have an ending line yet, he knew it had to be perfect. Everyone knows you can’t end a bridge without a call to action, something that stirred and emotion so deep that you couldn’t help but sing along. 

He sighed as his mouth twisted, “I don’t know, I haven’t found the perfect line yet.” He looked down at his chicken scratch, then slid the paper across to Alex, who examined it. 

“I like it, have you decided where the harmonies should go yet, or nah?” Alex flipped his blond hair back, after adjusting it in his snapback. He was already trying to decide what type of beats he would do, where the drum fills would be, and what he should consult Reggie on. 

The makeshift band had a process: Luke would write a basic lyric and chord progression and then he would bring it to the guys. From there Alex would come up with the heartbeat of the song with Reggie. Reggie would work with Luke to see what melodies he should be playing and how he and Luke would bounce off of each other.

When they came together, the three friends would look at who sang what, harmonies, and fill in the gaps in the music. They worked like a well oiled machine

But lunch had been 7 hours ago and it was now 8 o’clock, well past when Luke should have been home. The boy jumped as he looked outside, saw it was dark, and cursed under his breath. He quickly put his guitar on his stand and grabbed his book bag, then ran out with a wave to Reggie and Alex.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow, if I’m still alive,” he called before getting on his bike and going home. 

The air was damp and it had just rained, making the pavement slippery. Despite being almost winter, the weather was warm enough to where he only had to put on a shirt and jeans to be comfortable.

On his way to his house, Luke looked to the sky. He cataloged some shapes of dark clouds, moose, cat, spaceship, he thought. He chucked to himself, anything could be a space ship, it wasn’t creative enough, all the cloud had to be was somewhat circular. 

His mind drifted to Julie and what she would have to say about these clouds. She would probably smile, her adorable gap showing, and tell him all of the wonderful odd shapes she would see. 

“There, right there, a cat chasing a dog,” She would say, “No, no, scratch that, a dog chasing a cat chasing a pigeon. Wait sorry, a shark without a back fin. Or maybe a line of ducklings crossing a street.” Then she would narrow her eyes as the clouds shifted and formed new images, “Well now I don’t know what I see.” 

Luke would then look over and tell her that everything she saw was amazing, even if it was truly unremarkable. She was always able to see things he couldn’t, even if it was something as menial as a cloud. She could look at him and know exactly what was wrong no matter what; he didn’t know if she was truly super powered, or if he was super transparent. 

Which was why he was glad she couldn’t see him on their calls. 

She knew about Reggie and Alex, they had met before she left, but she didn’t know that they played music together. She didn’t know that Luke was writing songs with them like he used to with her. He didn’t want her to feel replaced.

And as far as she knew, his parents were completely fine with his music. They may have had little gripes here and there, but she thought that was the extent of it. 

As he arrived at his house and opened the front door, that wasn’t the case at all.

“Lucas Patterson!” His mother yelled from the kitchen, “Do you have any idea what time it is!”  
Luke winced as she ran into the living room, wiping her hands on a dish towel. He could see that the dining room table had already been cleared and the leftovers put away. 

“It is 8:14! Would you like to tell me why the hell you missed dinner again for the third time this week? No wait! I bet I know! Let me guess, you were at Alex’s!” Her eyes were steel. It wasn’t a question, they both knew the only thing that would keep him out at night would be music with the guys. 

He gripped the strap of his back pack before looking at the floor, his knuckles white. “I’m sorry Mom. I just lost track of time, you know how I get.”

Emily smoothed her brow with her fingers as her husband walked in from the kitchen. “At least tell me you did your homework.” 

Luke didn’t answer.

His mom threw the dish towel to the floor, “Luke we had a deal! You can keep playing your guitar and going to ‘band practice,’” She used air quotes, “As long as you did your homework before then and always made it home for dinner. Always! Your family and school work is important! I know you don’t think so, but as long as you live under our roof, you abide by our rules!”

He threw his hands up and scoffed, “I’m not going to stop playing music, it’s my life! And you can’t stop me! I am sorry if I miss a few family dinners a week, but isn’t that fine if it means I’m happy?” 

His mother looked at him like he had sprouted another head, “Son, I know it’s been hard ever since Julie left, and I know you miss her but--”

“But what Mom? There’s nothing I can do about it, she’s in New York! And the only thing keeping me connected to her is music, and right now, you don’t even let me have that.” Luke stormed through the living room into his room. 

He dropped his bag down with a thunk, and sat on his bed, smashing his head into a pillow and screaming. He regretted that he didn't his guitar back, if only to take out his anger by shredding on volume 10. 

The day kept getting later, and while he didn’t like calling her while angry, he dialed Julie’s phone number. 

The phone rang a couple times before she picked up, “Hello, this is Her Majesty Queen Julie Molina, what is your concern peasant?” She said in a haughty voice, before her façade broke with a giggle.

“Well Your Highness, I have come to discuss today’s weather.” He replied, playing along, her voice instantly making him feel better.

“Today we have seen a couch, a baby, and many many trees.”

“I have also seen many trees; they are very common in the sky.” Luke laughed, “I may have also spotted a suitcase and an umbrella. Sadly my Queen, the rain made it quite hard to see too many shapes.”

Julie clicked her tongue, he could see her face now, her nose scrunched and her mouth down turned, “That is a downright shame. Is there any news to report?’”

Luke perked up at that and rushed to get the words out of his mouth, “Actually, yeah. I wrote a song, ‘Now or Never,’ and it’s actually not that bad. Except I can’t figure out this one line, and it’s been bugging me all day.” He huffed, “Do you wanna hear it?”

She replied just as giddy as he is, “Of course!”

The brunet then launched into singing an a cappella version of his song from memory, stopping here or there to say things such as, “A harmony would totally go here,” or “Add a little guitar riff and it’d be perfect.” 

He kept going until, “‘Living on a feeling that’s been running through our veins’. And then of course another line, and then the chorus.” He was staring at his popcorn ceiling now, smiling like a kid in a candy shop. 

Julie paused, then said, “We’re the revolution that’s been singing in the rain.” 

“What?”  
“That’s it, that’s your missing lyric.”

Luke froze, she really couldn’t get any more perfect.

“Queen Julie, you are a genius!” He jumped off of his bed to grab a scrap of paper off of his messy desk before writing down the lyric. “You songwriting genius! If you have stuff like that flowing through your brain, how aren’t you playing it?”

He didn’t mean to bring it up, it just sort of happened. But it was true, how could she be so good at writing and let it go to waste?

Julie cleared her throat, “Well actually--”

“You sang again? I knew it, I knew you would!” Luke cut her off.

“Well no,” She rushed out, he could already see her running her hand over her face in exasperation. He has to stop interrupting people. “I got kicked out of the music program. I haven’t played anything since I got here, and I couldn't either today. I guess that was the last straw, because my teacher called my dad and said that unless I could play something by the end of the week, I need to choose a new elective.”

They sat in silence. 

Luke played with his hands, knitting his fingers together and pulling them apart before an idea came to him, “What about your mom’s song. Not for class I mean! But, if just to sit down at your piano again and play something, what about that? She wrote it for you after all. And then maybe afterwards you’d be good to play for your class and boom! You’re Julie, songwriting pianist extraordinaire again!”

“I-I don’t know about that, Luke,” She swallowed. Right before her mom passed, they had written a song together, but she hasn’t even been able to look at it since she moved. If she sat down to play it, she’d be accepting all of those memories back. But then again, if she needed to sing anything it would be her mother’s song. They had taken a few months to write it, and Julie’s mom had completed it before…

“I mean maybe. I’ll see. I’ll try.” Julie nodded to herself and gave a determinant look to her wall. Tomorrow morning she would go to her garage and play her mother's song.

“You promise?” Luke asked tentatively. 

“I promise.”

“Alright. I guess I should go, it’s probably pretty late where you are. I’ll see you soon?”

Julie nodded, “See you soon.” Then hung up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you sooo much for reading! It means the world to me
> 
> this chapter kind of got away from me, once I started writing I couldn’t stop lol
> 
> but I'm stoked to see the continuation and I have big plans!
> 
> if you can see, the fic will kind of follow the first few episodes, but it will split off near end
> 
> I’m planning on around 10ish chapters so buckle up!
> 
> up next: stratus!


	3. stratus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn’s a good friend, Reggie is bad at naming bands, and Julie makes a decision.

Julie had been finishing up her toast and orange juice with her brother, bleary eyed and barely functional, when Flynn strutted herself into her house with a shout. She dropped her backpack on the ground unceremoniously by the doorway. 

“Good morning Molina household!” She called, “I’m here to kidnap one of you!” Flynn walked into the kitchen before sliding into the bar stool between Julie and Carlos and taking a piece of toast for herself. She shoved it down her throat with remarkable speed before turning Julie’s brother. 

“I was over here in 43 seconds, a new record.”

Carlos nodded his head, impressed, “What was your time to beat, 55 seconds?” 

“Yep. Next time, I just have to remember not to take the stairs so fast.” She rubbed her knee with a grimace.

Julie got up to put her now empty glass in the sink with a clink, “I don’t understand how you two get up in the morning all happy and stuff. There must be something wrong, because it’s not genetic.”

Flynn had now stolen what was left of Carlos’ breakfast, her mouth full while she talked, “Cheer up, we have at least 20 minutes before we have to leave, so you have plenty of time to become a functional human being.” 

“She’s never a functional human being,” Carlos retorted. Flynn smirked as Julie shot a glare at the two of them, now leaning on the counter

“You’re not allowed to be on his side. It’s against the rules.”

Flynn only shrugged, “Rules were meant to be broken.”

Julie crossed her arms, but she was smiling, “Says who?”

“Says me, the rule maker supreme. My word is law. Right, Carlos?” Flynn didn’t even have to look at him as they fist bumped. 

“Right.”

Julie groaned and pushed herself off of the counter top, “Ignoring the heartbreaking betrayal that just went down, Flynn do you remember when I told you I had something to show you?”

Flynn nodded passively. 

“Well I think it was in the garage.” Julie grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the back door, “Carlos, can you finish cleaning up? This is super important.”

Julie heard her brother grumble about stupid sisters and their secrets before getting up to put the rest of the dishes in the sink. 

Julie had texted Flynn after last night’s conversation with Luke to come over a little earlier than normal. She had said that she found something in the garage last night; she didn’t know yet if she would be able to play her piano, so she didn’t want to get anyones hopes up. 

They walked on the stone path to the disconnected garage to the left of her house before standing in front of the two double doors. Julie pulled them open to reveal a spacious, relatively empty, blank slate. Inside to the right was an old red couch, a lone chair, and a few old band posters, to the left lay a rug, but with enough room to fit at least four chairs and a table. There was a loft overhead, which Julie and her father had spent their first weekend moving boxes into. 

And finally stood a dusty baby grand piano at the back. It had been her mother’s and she and Julie would spend hours at it. No one had played it since they moved. 

Julie turned to Flynn as they stood at the entrance, “Okay, so maybe I didn’t find anything per se, but I sort of did.” She led the other girl to stand in front of the piano before she sat down on the dusty bench, her hands in her lap

“Julie-” Flynn started.

“I was talking with Luke, and he had written a song and we got talking and,” Julie paused, looking at the keys, “He brought up my mom’s song. We had worked on it before she passed.”  
Julie looked up to see her friend with a hopeful smile on her face, “I can’t let myself be kicked out of the music program, and I-I think that if I can play this song, I might be able to play again.”

Julie pulled a folded piece of paper out from her pocket and set it atop the piano. Flynn had pulled up a chair next to her and looked at the girl expectantly. 

Julie took a few deep breaths; in and out, in and out, she repeated. She could do this. She could set her hands on the ivory and play her mother's song. All it was was a few notes and lines on a page. She raised her hands to play. It was so simple.

Except, it wasn’t.

She quickly pulled her hands back into her lap, and started toying with her sleeve. If she played her mother’s song, she wouldn’t have anything left of her. This was her mother’s last creation, the last thing she would ever do; if Julie played it, she'd be accepting that. She’d be letting go over her mother and her legacy. 

Flynn must have seen her unease, because she placed a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to push yourself.”

Julie shook her head, “No, I have to get over it eventually, I can’t not play.” But she didn’t make a move. She was frozen to the seat, stuck in limbo. 

“It’s just, this is the last thing my mom and I ever did, the last memory I have of us playing. If I play it, I’ll be letting go of her. I don’t think I’m ready to do that. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to do that.” Julie shook her head and placed her head in her hands, “I really wish I could. I wish I could just play the damn piano! Every time I try I just get looks of pity or-or like people are annoyed with me. I wish it was that simple, just sit down and play, and not worry and come to terms with my own mother dying, but I just can’t! I have no idea what will happen when I do!”

She took a stuttering breath in her eyes watering, “I wish that I could be like Dad and accept that she was gone. I wish that I could be like Carlos and just distract myself from it, thinking that ghosts are real just to wrap my head around the concept of death. But I’m not. I’m just Julie. And the one thing that makes me me, I can’t do.” She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, “I’m sorry, that was a lot to unload on you.”

But Flynn pulled her into a bone crushing hug. They stayed like that until Flynn pulled back and held her at arm's length, looking her in the eyes, “I have absolutely no idea what you are going through, and it is completely unfair to ask a person to go through something like this. But please don’t ever feel like you can’t tell me things; that’s what friends are for, especially awesome best friends like me.” She chuckled.

“I never knew Rose, but I do know what it is like to lose someone. You wish you could have known that every moment you had with them was precious, and you wish you could hold on to them forever, and you wish that they just hadn’t left in the first place. And I know that everyday without them feels like a day wasted, and you feel so hopeless when the one person you need isn’t there. And that sucks. But you don’t have to go through it alone; you have me and your dad and Carlos, and L.A boy. You have so many people that love you and will help you through this. I promise.”

“If you can’t play your piano today, that’s completely fine. It may not be tomorrow, or next week, or even a year from now. But one day, you will. And in that moment you’ll realize that you’re not forgetting your mother or letting go of her: you’re moving on. You’re saying, ‘You made me who I am and I love you and I miss you and I think about you every day, but I can’t let this stop me from growing.’ You’re honoring your mother's life by doing what she knew you were born to do: sing and play. All she ever wanted was for you to be happy.” Flynn pulled her into a hug again, “And who knows, mabe Carlos is right, and she’s standing right in this room cheering you on.”

Julie laughed into her friend’s shoulder, sniffling with damp eyes, “You’re the best.”

Flynn shrugged and patted her back, “I know.”

* * *

After flipping a coin, Julie had agreed to pay for lunch that day in the cafeteria. She stood in the lunch line examining the room as she waited. Another cougar had been painted by the microwaves and a yellow border ran around the ceiling. Tiles in their school colors were scattered across the floor and the room held about 25 round black tables. 

As she finished in the lunch line and walked toward her and Flynn’s table near the entrance, she overheard a conversation.

“So if Dirty Candi wants to perform at the dance, we need to tighten up our routine. Kayla, that means you need to get it together near the chorus.” Carrie Wilson wagged ketchup covered french fry in her friend's direction, “But I really do think we’ll nail it.”

“I know you will!” Nick was sitting next to her, his arm around her waist.

Julie didn’t particularly like Carrie but she had to give it to her; her songs were catchy and her choreography was always immaculate. They had worked hard for every gig they got, and made it look effortless. 

Only a few seconds later, she arrived at her table. She handed Flynn her lunch tray, distracting her from her Pre-Calc homework, then sat down.

She grimaced, “Carrots and peas again? You’d think they’d run out of slop to feed us but nope! It just keeps coming.”

Julie rolled her eyes, “You could always just pack your lunch.”

Flynn gave her a deadpan look and gestured to her spread of papers, “I have more important things to attend to.” She went back to tapping on her calculator.

Julie scrolled through her phone, shoveling her food in her mouth, before she came to one of Carrie’s posts. It showed her and the Dirty Candi girls after a performance, striking the last pose. The caption read ‘couldn’t ask for a better group.’ 

Julie turned to Flynn, “Weren’t you and Carrie really close way back when?”

The girls head shot up, “If by ‘way back when’ you mean two years ago, then yeah, you could say that.”

Julie didn’t want to prod, but she was innately curious. She also figured that they were close enough to tell each other most things. If Flynn shut it down, then she wouldn’t ask again. 

“What happened?”

Flynn looked down at her carrots and peas, she pushed them around with the plastic fork. “We were really close, our parents were friends. You’ve seen her house, they don’t live too far from us, so I used to bike there after school. We’d hang out every day and we did everything together: school chorus, swim team, dance team, literally everything. On Wednesday’s--”

“We wear pink?” Julie snorted.

“Yes, because that’s exactly what I was going to say.” She gave her a flat look, “No, on Wednesdays we’d go over to her McMansion and have dinner. But I guess something happened because she dropped me like that.” Flynn snapped her fingers. “I never found out why, but she moved on and formed Dirty Candi and now I have you. So all’s well that ends well.”

Julie nodded, “Thanks for telling me.”

“Yeah, of course,” Flynn softly smiled, then looked down at her homework, “But could you seriously help me with this, I’m so confused.”

* * *

“‘We’re the revolution that’s been singing in the rain!’ That is genius!” Reggie held the crumpled paper in front of his face, spinning around. He then plunked on the bright blue couch.

“That’s what I was saying!” Luke laughed. 

Luke, Alex, and Reggie, were in Alex’s garage yet again, but this time, with a finished song. The day was just as hot as the previous one, so they had all of the doors and windows open. They had moved the blue couch, a desk chair, a couple lawn chairs, and their band equipment around to form sort of a homey interior. Alex thought it was more trashy, but Reggie had insisted that cozy was the right word. 

Alex was sprawled out on the desk chair, one leg over each arm, seeming to not know how to sit, as Luke had pulled up a lawn chair around the center table.

“You said Julie Molina helped you finish it? The girl that moved away?” Alex asked. “The one you talk to everyday?”

“Yeah, yeah, we talk sometimes. And she came up with this awesome line.” Luke snatched the paper from Reggie’s hands and waved the paper like Reggie had. 

“Cool, cool. That’s not the point though. You guys talk everyday and you haven’t told her about us?” Alex was now upside down in the chair, his hair brushing the ground.

“I mean she knows about you guys! We were all in music together last year! She just doesn’t know we're in a band.” Luke didn't really mean to not tell Julie, it just, hadn’t come up. Or at least that’s what he told himself.

“Okay we’re not a band: one,” Alex held up a finger, “We only have three songs, and two,” he held up another, “We don’t have a band name.” 

“Oh! We are Whisper Cats, tell your friends!” Reggie waved his hand with a giddy smile, as if it was spelled out in blinding lights.

Alex whipped his head, “We are not using that name.”

Luke shrugged and mumbled, “I kinda liked it.”

“Again, not the point,” Alex sighed and ran his hand over his face, “Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one with a brain cell. Why haven’t you told her about our music? I’m sure she’d be happy to know that you have other friends that aren’t 3000 miles away.”

“2,789 miles away--”

“And how many minutes is that?”

“About 7 hours, 15 minutes, by plane, give or take.”

Alex groaned, “Exactly. If you know that much about her, she should at least know about your favorite people in the world.”

Reggie stuck his bottom lip out and made puppy eyes, “We’re your favorite people? Aww, Luke!”

Luke opened his mouth to say something, but Alex shot him a look.

“I just don’t want her to feel replaced. She hasn’t played her piano in months and suddenly I join a makeshift band with my ‘new’ best friends? We used to write songs together, that was our thing, and now I write them with you guys? Yeah, that will totally blow over well.” Luke looked down, a frown etched its way onto his face. 

“I mean if she’s your friend she’ll be happy for you. Music is a big part of your life, and it seems like it’s a big part of hers. You’re also totally not replacing her, obviously Alex and I look nothing like her. And it's not as if you can, like, monopolize writing music, I don’t think that’s how that works.” Reggie said, looking between Alex and Luke.

Alex pointed at Reggie, “For once, you made some good points.”

He looked mildly offended, “I always make good points, what are you talking about?” 

Alex ignored him, “Just make sure you’re not taking Julie for granted. One way or another, she’ll find out about our band.”

Yeah, Luke totally wasn’t going to mention that he didn’t tell her about his family situation now. 

“Yes, alright, can we get back to practicing?” Luke pushed himself off of the chair, bouncing on the balls of his feet, and reached for his blue guitar, swinging it around him. He plugged in his amp, setting the volume levels as he played a couple chords. He adjusted the mic stand up, before switching the mic on. 

“Bet. I can’t wait to play Now or Never all the way through.” Reggie scrambled to get his bass and followed suit. Alex rolled his eyes.

He slowly moved right side up in his chair so as to not get a headache then set up behind his drum kit. He nodded to Luke before clicking his sticks, “From the top. One, two, three!”

“‘Take off, last stop, countdown ‘til we blast open the top’,” Luke sang into his mic, bouncing around, “‘Face first, full charge, electric hammer to the heart’.” 

He beamed at Reggie who plucked his bass in turn. This was the first time they had been able to come together and have the full fledged song. 

“‘Clocks move forward, but we don’t get older, no. Keep on climbing, till our stars collide’,” Luke continued, feeling the energy grow as the chorus built, “And all the times we fell behind, were just the keys to paradise!”

He stomped his foot down into a power stance as Alex’s driving beat filled his soul. It seemed so natural as electricity seemed to flow through them all. They were enveloped in the music and drowned out the world around them.

“‘Don’t look down! Cause we’re still rising up right now! And even if we hit the ground, we’ll still fly!’” Luke’s voice danced over the chorus when he closed his eyes, “‘Dreaming like we’ll live forever, but living like it’s now or never!’”

“‘Hear the noise, in my head, it’s calling out like a voice I can’t forget. One life, no regrets, catch up, got no time to catch my breath’,” Luke’s words came alive and transformed with the music. “‘Clocks move faster, cause it’s all we’re after.’”

Luke nodded Reggie over to share his mic, their energy seemed to fuel each other when they harmonized, “‘Won’t stop climbing, cause this is our time yeah,” Luke pushed him back playfully and turned to look at an imaginary audience, “‘When all the days felt black and white, those were the best shade of my life’.”

Alex nodded along as the second chorus came around and Reggie and Alex joined Luke with his vocals. Alex had an ear splitting grin as he sang with his best friends. He knew that this was what he wanted to do; he didn’t want to go to college or a trade school, he wanted to be on stage and learn the ropes of performing. Luke wanted to go city to city and eat bad hot dogs and be too tired to walk, and just play. He knew that was where he belonged.

“‘We ain't searching for tomorrow’,” Alex sang as Reggie echoed. The finished bridge was great, “‘Cause we got all we need today’.”

Reggie glanced at Luke nervously, “Living on a feeling that’s been running through our veins.”

Reggie beamed and swooped a hand through his hair when he sang Julie’s line. It was perfect, “‘We’re the revolution that’s been singing in the rain.’”

The boys looked back and forth when singing the next chorus in gang vocals, clapping along with Alex’s clicking drum sticks. Luke, ever the dramatic, swung his guitar over his shoulder “‘Don’t look down, cause we’re still rising up right now.”

On the last beat, Reggie and Luke struck their power chords. “And even if we hit the ground, we’ll still fly. Keep dreaming like we’ll live forever, but living like it’s now or never.”

The song was coming to an end as Reggie and Alex sang backup to Luke, “It’s now or never!”

The last sounds rang around the garage and Luke could already hear the crowd cheering. His chest heaved and he could feel the back of his sleeveless shirt stick to his skin. 

Reggie threw his hands in the air, “We’re Whisper Cats, tell your friends!”

Alex threw a drumstick at him. 

* * *

Flynn and Julie walked home as usual and they looked at the clouds together. The weather had warmed up as the day progressed, but it was still cold enough to warrant a jacket. The leaves were just hanging onto their branches by a thread, and the sky, a perfect, ideal blue, was almost clear.

Julie had thought about Luke and Flynn’s words and she had made an executive decision: she was going to play her mother’s song. Not because anyone was forcing her, but because she knew she was holding herself back. She knew that it was time for her to move on.

After finishing her homework, she rushed to the garage and sat at the piano, the warm golden light of sunset illuminating her. She had placed the music on top of the mirrored surface and took a deep breath. She placed her hands on the keys. She knew that the second she started, memories of her mother would come flooding back.

And she was ready.

She pressed the ivory keys, reading along to her mother’s notation. The notes filled the space, the melody feeling like coming home. 

“‘Here’s the one thing I want you to know, you got some place to go.’” She sang, “Life’s a test, yes, but you go toe-to-toe. You don’t give up, no, you grow.’”

She could feel her voice wobble as her eyes started to water. She was overwhelmed by her mother’s lyrics, knowing they were written just for her, just for this moment.

She continued, “‘And use your pain, cause it makes you you, though I wish I could hold you through it. I know it’s not the same,’” Julie gasped, “‘You got living to do, and I just want you to do it.’”

“‘So get up, get out, relight that spark, you know the rest by heart.’” She remembered her mother’s last christmas where they made too many cookies to ever eat. She remembered all of the walks where her mother would point out every little thing, from the leaves, to squirrels and spiderwebs. 

“‘Wake up, wake up, if it’s all you do. Look out, look inside of you. It’s not what you lost, it’s what you’ll gain raising your voice to the rain.’” As Julie crescendoed she remembered her mother’s warm all encompassing hugs, and her sharp tongue when Julie would talk back to her.

She could feel the music flow through her bones and every atom of her body as she finished out the chorus. The setting sun was warm on her back.

“‘Better wake those demons, just look them in the eye, no reason not to try. Life can be a mess; I won’t let it cloud my mind, I’ll let my fingers fly.’” She threw her head back as she riffed on her mother's words. She could feel a tear run down her cheek.

“‘And use the pain ‘cause it’s part of me, and I’m ready to power through it. Gonna find the strength, find the melody, ‘cause you showed me how to do it. Get up, get out, relight that spark, you know the rest by heart.’” She wondered why she had waited so long to play, her mother had written these lyrics just for her; something that would last forever. 

“‘Wake up, wake up, if it’s all you do. Look out, look inside of you. It’s not what you lost, it’s what you’ll gain raising your voice to the rain.’” Julie thought of every family dinner and every grocery run, just for the simple things. 

“‘Wake up your dream and make it true, look out, look inside of you. It’s not what you lost, relight that spark, time to come out of the dark,’” She thought of her mom’s burning bravery, her fearless want for adventure, and fierce love for her family. “‘Wake up, wake up.’”

Julie stood up, fully in tears as she looked up to the sky, “‘So wake that spirit, spirit. I wanna hear it, hear it. No need to fear it, you’re not alone. You’re going to find your way!”  
She pulled her hands up from the keys and stretched them out before crashing them back down, “‘Wake up, wake up, if it’s all you do. Look out, look inside of you. It’s not what you lost, it’s what you’ll gain raising your voice to the rain. Wake up your dream and make it true, look out, look inside of you. When you feel lost, relight that spark, time to come out of the dark.’” She smiled out as she sang. She wasn’t letting go over her mother, she was honoring her. She was the closest she had been to her mother since she had passed.

Julie sat back down on the stool, “Wake up, mmm, wake up.” She closed her eyes and played the final notes of the song. 

She had done it. 

She found her music.

Suddenly Flynn burst into the garage, followed quickly by her father and Carlos. They tackled her in a group hug. “I would promise you we weren’t listening, but with a voice like that how could you not!” She said. 

“Mija, I’m so proud of you!” Her father chuckled, but she could hear that his voice was choked. 

“Julie, that was amazing! Better than anything you’ve ever sung!” Carlos said.

Julie was stunned for a second as they all held onto her, before they let go and let her breathe. She wiped her tears on her sweater sleeve as she stood up, “Thank you. That was mom’s song.”

Her dad slung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a side hug, “We all knew you could do it, I just didn’t think it would be so soon. Your mother would be so proud of you, I know we all are.”

* * *

Luke had remembered to bring his acoustic guitar back to his house after practice. Luckily, he had made it home before dinner, although the meal they did share was filled with tense words and silence. His mother had stabbed her potatoes with her fork after she had heard that Luke was trying to book gigs. He was sure he had done the same when she asked about his science fair project.

He had run to his room the second he finished eating. His room was small, but appropriate; it was covered floor to ceiling in band posters and written scraps of lyrics. He had his guitars propped in one corner, next to his messy desk. Clothes were haphazardly strewn around his laundry basket, from where he hadn’t bothered to try and aim accurately. 

But now Luke was talking to Julie.

“-and it was amazing, Luke! My fingers flew across the keys and I sang and it was beautiful! I swear I could feel my mom looking over me!” Julie sighed, talking a million words a minute.

“That’s awesome! I told you you could do it! Julie Molina pianist extraordinaire is back in business. Oh my god, we can write songs again, just like last year!” Luke had her on speaker phone and was playing around with some chords and riffs. He was elated that she had played her mom’s song; he knew how much her death had affected Julie and how much of a mountain playing her song was to climb. He was proud of her. “Speaking of songs: I finished Now or Never, thanks to you, and it’s a banger. I can already hear the bass and drums and the crowd chanting our names!”

Julie laughed, “You’re really working on that whole rockstar thing, huh?”

“Of course, they always told us to chase our dreams in school, didn’t they? I’m just going on more of an… unconventional route.”

“By yourself? A one man band? Doesn’t sound very rockstar-ish to me.” Julie retorted. Luke knew he hadn’t really told Julie about his friends. But he also knew that this was her way of prodding him to tell her. Luke supposed that it has been a long time coming. 

“Do you remember Alex and Reggie? From music class?”

Julie hummed as she thought, as if she hadn't prodded Luke “Oh! The blond one with the fanny pack and the one in the leather jacket? Them right?”

Luke nodded before he realized that she couldn’t see him, “Yeah, them. I’ve become closer with them, mostly hanging out in Alex’s garage.” He was careful to omit any mention of their instruments, music, or any tell that might give him away. Julie could catch him red handed in a lie, no matter the distance, so he...didn’t lie. He just didn’t say the full truth.

“Really? I never would have guessed.” He heard her sit in what he thought was a chair, judging by the slight squeak. “It’s a good thing you’ve made friends that aren’t so far away.” He laughed as she unknowingly parroted Alex’s words. 

She continued, “Yeah now that I can play again, I can stay in music class. I just need a song by Friday, which isn’t too hard to do -- write a song in 3 days -- it’s just kind of a lot to ask right now. I was going to ask if I could just turn one of Flynn’s raps into a song with a simple 1, 5 , 4, progression.”

“Actually I wrote another song that would be perfect for your range,” He moved his guitar off of his lap, opened his song book, took a picture and sent it to Julie. “I just sent it, if you want to use that.”

Julie checked her phone, “Are you sure? I’d be playing it in front of my whole class.”

Luke smiled, he had intended to show Alex and Reggie the song, but he figured Julie would get more use out of it, “Yeah totally, it can be a thank you for helping me figure out that lyric in Now or Never.”

Luke could hear Julie’s smile, “Thank you so much, oh my god. You’re the best!” He heard her get up from her squeaky chair, “I have to go, but I’ll send you a video of when I play it; I’ll make Flynn record it.”

He chuckled, “Okay, I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we may have gone a tiiiiiny bit overboard lol, I even had to cut some things and move them to the next chapter!!
> 
> I think it's safe to say that the average chapter will be around 3k-5k words, cumulus was just an outlier
> 
> Thank you so much for all your comments and kudos and all of the support (I literally started crying, don't @ me), the response has been AMAZING!!!!
> 
> Literally I'm so flabbergasted THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU I can't say that enough
> 
> ALSO : I'm looking for a beta for this, so if anyone is interested, please dm me on tumblr. I can't keep making my friends proofread this lollll
> 
> Next up: altostratus (ft. Willie)!


	4. altostratus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick is a sweetheart, Alex has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and Luke is nowhere to be seen.

Julie didn’t hate English. In fact, it was quite the opposite. She was good with words, they came naturally to her. She seemed to think in sentences, which made writing essays one of the easiest things for her to do in school. Her favorite thing to do was to write songs, and they seemed to be everywhere, in every part of literature: poems were songs without a backing track, metaphors described heartbreak and being alive and feeling free just the way lyrics do, sentences were structured with a sort of reading rhythm, a pulse. She really did enjoy English. 

It was just sometimes, English could be a bore. 

Her teacher was going on and on about the importance of how authors write their stories or tales, and yeah, Julie could get behind that. But right now, as she drew shapes with her eraser on her desk, the monologue was putting her to sleep.

She pushed her loose curls back from where they were casting a curtain over her eyes and looked across the classroom until her mind wandered far enough away to where she couldn’t hear the teacher.

Last night, Luke had seemed weird. Weirder than normal. She wasn’t used to having to pry information out of the boy, he was usually an open book. Her brow furrowed; he had seemed so reluctant to tell her about Reggie and Alex, people she had already met last year. 

And why hadn’t he told her about his family? Emily and Mitch had treated her like their own daughter, always inviting her to stay for dinner and to ‘stop by whenever, you’re no burden,’ and they treated Luke like he had hung the moon. The last thing she had heard about them was a few months ago, when Luke had ranted about how they just didn’t understand them sometimes, but Julie had figured that that was pretty normal. She pursed her lips and thought maybe it had just slipped his mind; she didn’t tell him too much about Carlos’ ghost hunting, or her father’s new photography excursions. 

But she couldn’t help but worry. She and Luke were thick as thieves, they would talk for hours, although that had been cut short as of late, about everything. What if he was hiding something big from her? What had happened to one of his parents? Julie would totally understand his aversion of the topic. 

But what if he and his friends were in trouble? What if they had gotten arrested? What if he was locked away in some juvenile institute where he only had one call a day, and he had used that to call her? What if he had tripped, or fell off of a ladder, or got hit by a car, or done something so completely Luke that he had landed himself in the ICU?

Oh god, what if he was doing drugs! Julie didn’t know if she could handle it if Luke had gone off the deep end. 

“Partners?”  
Julie stopped her doodling to look up to her left at the blond. She smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, of course.”

Nick was in two of her classes, music and English, and so far, had proved to be nothing like his girlfriend. He was sweet and smart and all around helpful; he had been her tour guide on the first day of school. She just didn’t understand how someone as nice as him, could end up with such a foil of himself as Carrie. See, she did pay attention. 

“I’m not going to lie, I completely zoned out. What are we doing?” She looked down to see that she had an assignment on her desk.

Nick laughed as he explained the assignment to her, having to do with last night's reading. As they completed it, they chatted.

“Your guitar solo yesterday was pretty killer,” Julie winced, she was yet again picking up more traits of Luke’s, “Did you write that yourself?,”

“Thanks! Yep, I tried to make it Brian May-esque with a hint of Jeremy Spencer. I don’t know if that had translated, though.”

To be honest, Julie didn’t know either. She knew some names here and there, she certainly knew Brian May, but this was more Luke’s territory. And even if she did, she wasn’t exactly paying close attention to it. So she played it safe.

“I think you definitely achieved the vibe you wanted.” Julie scribbled down an answer. She knew he wouldn’t bring up her lack of a performance.

Nick hummed, changing the subject, “You go to the park a lot.” Her eyebrows shot up as his eyes widened. “Oh, um, not to be creepy or anything. Although that really did sound creepy, it’s not like I watch you or where you go. I barely notice you! I mean, no, not like that, well I mean I do notice you, we have classes together. We’re talking, we work on projects, but I guess you know that.” He hadn’t looked up from his paper, if anything, his shoulder seemed to shrink in on themselves. 

“What I meant to say is that I have workouts out there sometimes, and you always seem to be there.” He ran a hand over his face before shooting her a lopsided grin. 

Julie huffed, “Yeah I like to look at the sky a lot. Or sometimes I just go there to clear my head.” She sent a sideways glance his way, she had never heard him rant like that, “Are you okay?”

“For sure. Me? Tip-top shape.” He nodded before flicking his hair back. 

While she didn’t particularly like small talk, yet she somehow felt obligated to continue, “How’s practice been going?”  
Nick launched into a full fledged word dump of phrases she didn’t know the meanings of, and didn’t want to interrupt to ask. He became enthusiastically animated, forgetting his work and talking with his hands, seeming to bounce out of the seat. His face shone like the sun in the dreary classroom as he went on to talk about strategies and game plays and how they would win this year's championship if only so and so would tighten up here. She didn’t comprehend half of what he was saying, but she couldn’t help but listen. 

She wondered if that’s what she looked like talking about music.

* * *

Julie sat down at the piano bench with a sigh. Mrs. Harrison, thankfully, had let her redo her piano piece today, which would hopefully save her spot in the music program. Her class stared at her with disinterest, she knew that they didn’t expect anything, but she was ready to prove them wrong. She had copied down Luke’s song onto sheet music and had set it on the piano, then looked to Flynn. She shot her an ear splitting grin and a rigid thumbs up.

Julie could do this.

She played the opening chords of the song, hearing a few gasps from her classmates. Julie moved her hands up, then down, down, down, then back up. The chord progression was nothing revolutionary, but for her, it was everything. This was Luke’s song. She could see Nick smiling from the corner of her eye. 

“‘Sometimes I think, I’m falling down. I wanna cry, I’m calling out, for one more try to come alive.’” Her voice was strong, and had yet to fail her. Julie had worked on the song before the school day with Flynn’s support. She could feel a smile carving onto her face.

“‘And when I feel lost and alone, I know that I can make it home. Fight through the dark and find the spark.” She could feel pure joy fill her soul, “‘Life is a risk, but I will take it, close my eyes and jump. Together, I think that we can make it. C’mon let’s run!’”

Julie threw her head back, “‘And rise, through the night, you and I, we will fight to shine together, bright forever. And rise, through the night, you and I, we will fight to shine together, bright forever.” These were Luke’s lyrics, about the two of them, about their friendship. She could almost hear him singing along with her. 

Julie could hear Carrie whisper to Nick, “Is this really happening?”

Nick nodded, not taking his eyes off of Julie, “Just go with it.”

“‘In times that I doubted myself, I felt like I needed somе help, stuck in my head with nothing left. I feel somеthing around me now, so unclear, lifting me out. I found the ground I'm marching on!’” Julie nodded her head along with her fingers running across the keys. Luke had been there for her through all of this; her mother’s death, her moving away, her finding new friends. This was their song. 

As she finished playing, she didn’t register what was happening. She stood up and Flynn raced to tackle her in a hug. Her class clapped politely, but she could hear Nick over them all. Maybe she shouldn’t have played such a song like that in front of all of her classmates, but she couldn’t take it back now. Anyway, it seemed like she had done a pretty good job.

Mrs. Harrison set a hand on her shoulder, “That was wonderful! I’m so glad that you have decided to share that with us, what a song!” She spoke in a quieter tone only for Julie to hear, “I’ll email your father later.”

At lunch, Flynn showed her the video that she had taken. It was grainy and a backpack was covering half of the screen, but you could hear her voice ring out. She had Flynn send it to her, to which she then texted it to Luke.

“That was Luke’s song?” Flynn screeched. “All about you two; your friendship, you supporting each other? Where can I order friends like that, because it’s not on Amazon!”

Julie blushed, “Luke and I used to write songs all of the time. And, hey! I’m your supporting friend! You didn’t even have to order me, I was delivered from L.A just for you.”

“True, true. You also have unparalleled math skills.”

“Try telling that to Pythagoras.” 

Julie almost choked on her chicken nuggets as Nick walked over to their table, having to go out of his way to get to their part of the cafeteria. Carrie and the rest of her friends had yet to show up, and Nick had already set his lunch box at his own table. He slid into the seat across from Flynn and Julie. 

“That was amazing! Your performance in music class! If you have a talent like that, why haven’t you used it beforehand!” He unknowingly echoed Luke’s words.

Julie tried to act casual and shrugged stiffly, “I don’t know. It just hasn’t been the right time.” That wasn’t completely a lie. 

“You have to perform at the dance! Literally, you belong on stage. That was pure magic.” Nick’s eyes were wide in disbelief and he had a stunned smile on his face.

Julie froze, “Oh, I don’t know, that was only in front of the other kids in music class-”

“That’s perfect!” Flynn cut Julie off, “You have to!”

Julie gave Flynn the most withering glare she could muster, “I don’t think I’ll be able to come up with a whole set in two weeks. Although, thanks for thinking so. Anyway, they probably already have a band booked and everything.”

Nick shook his head, “Nope, they were just going to get the computer teacher to jerry rig a playlist, or at least that’s what I overheard. And Dirty Candi will also be performing, so I’m sure Carrie wouldn’t mind sharing the stage for a song or two.”

Julie and Flynn shared a glance. There was no way that Carrie would do such a thing. 

But Julie nodded, knowing that she definitely wouldn’t play at the dance, “I’ll think about it.”

* * *

Alex had had a pretty rough day so far. He had woken up late for school, smashing his hand on his alarm in frustration. The sky was way too light for him to have not slept in. When he saw the time, he quickly moved to put on clothes, hopping into his shorts as he ran to his bathroom to brush his teeth. His hair was a wreck, his eyes were bloodshot, and he had dried drool on his cheek, but before he could fix anything, he heard Reggie’s blaring car horn and a muffled shout.

“Alex! Your friends are here!” His mother yelled from the kitchen. 

He grabbed his jean jacket and an apple from the kitchen, before kissing his mom on the cheek and dashing out the door. He got into the passenger's seat of the blue Honda Civic, taking a bite.

“Wow, you look absolutely terrible.” Reggie said with a low whistle.

Luke punched his shoulder from the back seat, but then ruefully nodded. “You’re not exactly prime Alex right now.”

He glared at the two of them, grumbling around his apple.

Reggie raised an eyebrow, not taking his eyes off of the road because he was a safe driver, thank you very much. “What was that?”

“I said, at least my bad days look better than you guys’ good days.”

Luke let out a hearty laugh, “Sure, like you didn’t just find out how to dress yourself.” Alex had had a… difficult time figuring out what his personal style was. As they moved out of middle school and into high school, everyone seemed to find their signature thing except for him: Luke barely knew what sleeves were, and Reggie wouldn’t be caught dead out of his leather jacket-flannel combo. Alex had tried a few different things but nothing seemed to feel like him. After a few years, he decidedly settled on a few signature items; a pale pink hoodie, a denim jacket, and his fanny pack, which carried around his EpiPen and inhaler along with a few first aid supplies. He quickly found out that Luke’s sudden growth spurt over the summer before junior year came with it’s fair share of clumsiness. 

Alex went to reach for his fanny pack before realizing that he forgot it at his house. “We have to turn around. I left my fanny pack at home.”

Reggie tapped his finger on the steering wheel, “If we do we’ll be late. Again.” He shot a look through his mirror at Luke who gave a timid smile. 

“Please,” Alex whined, drawing out the ‘e,’ “I’ll go pick up a pizza for practice if we do! I promise.”

Reggie mulled it over in his head before swinging a uey, “Fine. But you better not get pineapple on it. That shit’s nasty.”

“It is not!” Luke placed a hand over his heart as if he was Caesar on the Ides of March. “Pineapple on pizza is a gift!”

“No! What’s a gift is my country songs, especially Home is Where My Horse Is. Pineapple is unnecessary and an unholy offense.”

“Puh-leeze, your country songs are the unholy offenses! Don’t even try it!”

Alex just rolled his eyes at them.

Now, Alex was walking downtown to pick up said pizza; half ham and pineapple, half pepperoni. The pizza shop was only a few minutes from his house, and yeah, he could’ve borrowed Reggie’s car, but he needed to clear his head. Twilight was setting in like a blanket over the world. Or at least, his part of the world. There was a slight chill in the air as he gripped his fanny pack slung across his chest with two hands.

The day just kept getting worse. He had failed a Physics test, even after Reggie had helped him study. He spilt chili from his hot dog on his hoodie, leading him to steal one of Luke’s extra shirts he kept in the car, surprisingly one with sleeves. He then proceeded to choke on that same hotdog in front of the whole cafeteria, forcing Luke to perform the Heimlich. And after all of that, his hair still wasn’t even remotely tamed, sticking up in every direction. 

His terrible day wasn’t helped by being crashed into. 

He fell to the ground with a yelp, and so did the skateboarder. The wind was knocked out of him as he tumbled and coughed, before standing up.

“Aw man, you dinged my board.” The other boy said, inspecting his skateboard. 

Alex couldn’t believe him and scoffed. The nerve on some people. “I dinged your board? Dude, you ran me over! You’re lucky I didn’t-”

The skateboarder took off his helmet to reveal locks of soft looking brown hair. Time seemed to slow down, or maybe stop, Alex couldn’t be sure. What he was sure about was that he was one of the most handsome people he had ever seen. He had high cheekbones and warm looking brown eyes and the softest looking lips. Alex was going to hyperventilate if he would ever remember to breathe. 

He swallowed as the boy's eyes softened, “Hey, sorry I ran into you. I thought you could hear me coming.”

Alex let out a nervous laugh, “Yeah, sometimes I just get wrapped up in my head.”

They stared at each other, and he was sure that the skater’s eyes traced him up and down as he stuck his hand out, “I’m, uh, I’m Willie.”

Alex grabbed his hand to shake. Could a handshake really be that attractive? “Oh, uh, Alex.”

“So, um, what brings you to downtown, man? You sightseeing?” Willie gestured up to the brick buildings lining the street.

Alex nodded before letting out a humorless chuckle, “Yeah, actually I was having a minor crisis. I came to pick up a pizza for my friends, but my day has not been too great. I was just trying to clear my head before you tried to crack it open.” He wanted to facepalm, his attempt at small talk was abominable. And why the hell was he telling a complete stranger all of this information? For all he knew, Willie could be a secret spy looking to murder him in a back alley for some reason unbeknownst to him. 

Willie laughed, his eyes crinkling, “I did pancake you, huh?” Alex nodded at the ground, before he heard his laugh die. “Uh sorry, minor crisis?”

“I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, literally. And my day hasn’t gotten any better, it’s just been mishap after mishap. Shouldn’t we catch a break?”

Willie tilted his head, “Who’s we?”

“Oh, uh, me and my band mates. We all seem to have the worst luck in the world.” Alex shoved his hands in his pockets and chuckled. “Yeah, I almost died eating a hotdog.”

“Woah! No way! Weirdly,” Willie gave him a lopsided smile, “Mozart died eating a hotdog.”

Alex nodded, “Wow, that’s actually comforting. Thank you.” He smiled at Willie, “Hey do you mind if I ask you to tag along to come pick up this pizza? I mean, if you’re busy then obviously don’t, or like, if you have someplace to be. But I mean it’s almost dinner, and you can have some of it, I mean I didn’t pay for it, as long as you like ham and pineapple, because only one of my bandmates like it-”

“Yeah, totally. I don’t have anything on my schedule.” Willie smiled, and Alex knew then that his day had gotten exponentially better.

* * *

“I love my family, I really do, but I’m so glad that I can come over to your house.” Flynn had flopped on Julie's made up bed, scrolling on her phone, as Julie finished up her homework at her desk. “Like three screaming brothers? No thanks.”

Julie nodded as her phone dinged, “Well you’re always welcome here, you know Dad loves having someone to rant to about his photography.” She checked the message, it was from Luke.

_Luke : You killed it! Stabbed-it-in-the-heart killed it! Knew you would :D_

Julie rolled her eyes and shot him back a message.

_Julie : Thanks for the song! I won’t be able to talk today, Flynn’s spending the night and I don’t want to be rude :(_

The three little dots showed up, then disappeared. She frowned. It’s not like they haven’t missed a call before, so she sent him another text.

_Julie : Maybe we could facetime and write some songs tomorrow???_

When she didn’t get a response she set her phone down and finished the English assignment from earlier. When she finished, she pulled up their favorite show on her laptop, then joined Flynn on her bed. “I thought we could catch up, I missed Sunday’s episode.”

Flynn’s eyes bugged out of her head, as she whipped her neck so hard Julie thought she had gotten whiplash. “You missed it? Oh my god! You know I’m not one for spoilers, but shit went down. Like seriously. You’re going to blow a fuse. We are totally watching it.”

And they did. And Flynn was right. Shit did go down. And Julie totally blew a fuse. Turns out, her favorite ghost boy band characters had gotten themselves trapped in a deal with some other evil ghost: either they play at his club forever or they disappear from existence. It was a lot more emotional baggage than Flynn and Julie had signed up for when they first started watching, but now they were hooked.

“Oh my god, that was such a cliffhanger. How could they do that?” Julie wailed as she threaded her fingers through her hair. “They deserve so much better than this cruel world!”

Flynn nodded solemnly, “And we have to wait until Sunday to see what happens next. Life just isn’t fair.”

Julie hadn’t noticed Luke had texted her back until she got up to use the restroom.

_Luke : Ok_

Julie scoffed. The response was totally unlike Luke. No, it was totally like Luke when he was in a bad mood that he knew, deep down, was just him being overdramatic. She rolled her eyes and she knew she shouldn’t take it personally, but it still stung. They had told each other everything, even something as menial as a bad day. Whatever, his bad mood wasn’t going to stop her from having a fun night with her friends.

Her father called from downstairs for the two girls to come and eat dinner, and as she raced downstairs, she could smell the microwaved spaghetti. 

They made their way to the set dinner table, before they prayed and dug in.

“I think we’re being haunted.” Carlos started. 

Flynn rolled her eyes, “Nobody has died in this house or mine. It’s nothing like Kira and her Hologram Band.”

Carlos wagged his piece of garlic bread at her, “No, we’re definitely being haunted. By a ghost chef who never got to achieve his dream of making the best French Dip in the world. I have definitive proof.”

“Oh really? And where is this proof?”

“On my iPad.” Carlos made the move to get up from his seat.

“Mijo, eat your salad.” Ray said, then turned to the girl, “How was your day Flynn?”

“Pretty good, Mr. Molina. Julie performed that song that she was working on this morning, and let me tell you, it was amazing!” Flynn gushed.

“I saw the email. I’m glad that we don’t have to go through the options of choosing another elective for you. What were the options? Hospitality and Tourism and Marketing?”

“Yeah, nothing I am remotely interested in.” Julie picked the tomatoes out of her salad. “I think Mrs. Harrison and the class really liked the song, or at least my friends did.”

Flynn nodded, “Especially Nick.”:

Julie paled and fought the urge to elbow her friend. She looked down at her lap.

Carlos’ eyebrows shot up, “Lacrosse Nick?”

Flynn looked skeptical, “...Yes? How do you know about Lacrosse Nick? Floppy hair? Dating a demon?”

“Yeah, he’s an assistant coach for my baseball team. Something about community service and all of that. There’s another Nick on my team, but we call that one Lacrosse Nick. Because, well, that’s all that he talks about.” Carlos explained.

“Yes, it does make you wonder why he doesn’t coach a Lacrosse team, but nevertheless. Julie, how was your day?”

Julie looked up at her father, “About the same. I guess there's a dance in a couple weeks and I was wondering if I could go with Flynn.” She didn’t dare mention the part of her playing. She didn’t want her father as well and Flynn to egg her on. She wasn’t ready to go onstage, by herself, in front of the entire school.

“Of course, as long as it’s alright with her parents.” 

Flynn nodded, responding with a mouthful of spaghetti, making Ray cringe, “Yep, as long as I babysit the next day, they’re totally cool with it.” Flynn looked to Julie, but said nothing of playing the dance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was just a fluff dump!! But we'll be back to our regularly scheduled angst next chapter!!
> 
> I just love Willie and Alex so much, they're babies
> 
> Thank you again for the support!!
> 
> Next Up: stratocumulus (ft. Whisper Cats)

**Author's Note:**

> thank you sooo much for reading!  
> please leave feedback, knowing my writing is appreciated is the best thing in the world!
> 
> you can find this fic and more on my tumblr- https://daisiesforlacey.tumblr.com/ 
> 
> i'll try to update this every other day


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